News

WATSONVILLE—Chevrolet of Watsonville took a giant step up in the world of auto mechanics last week as one of their mechanics, Richard Shephard, was awarded a World Class Technician status award by officials from General Motors and Chevrolet. “There’s a lot of time, a lot...

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted unanimously to name Aptos High School’s lower athletic field after Bobby Salazar, who spent four decades as school custodian and who was so involved in the community he was known as the...

Four decades ago, a group of stalwart cannery workers—mostly women—staged a 18-month strike against two companies they believed were exploiting them.  In doing so, they cemented their place in history as having led the largest strike in U.S. history, a successful David-and-Goliath standoff that is...

AROMAS—The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County plans to protect nearly all of the 2,640-acre Rocks Ranch in Aromas from development, the organization announced Feb. 11. The ranch has been in the spotlight recently following the San Benito County Supervisors’ intent to rezone a portion...

WATSONVILLE—A proposed redevelopment of the vacant Gottschalks building in the heart of downtown will come to the Watsonville Planning Commission during its Oct. 6 meeting. Navigator Schools, the parent organization of local charter school Watsonville Prep, and the Hansen Family Trust are teaming up to...

Students and their families joined faculty, administrators and both New School founders to celebrate the milestone.

John R. Walker Jr., a major fixture in Watsonville’s landscape of firefighting, parades and labor task force, died Jan. 27 of pancreatic cancer. He was 84. Walker  served as a Watsonville Reserve Firefighter for three decades, and left that post as Reserve Lt. Co. No....

A man was arrested Wednesday at his Watsonville home on suspicion of arranging for sex with a minor, according to the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (SDPS).  Officials at the SDPS received information that Pablo Taskey, 27, used an online social media application, and arranged...

WATSONVILLE—The Watsonville City Council at its Tuesday meeting signed off on an agreement with Pajaro Valley Arts for the sale of the historic Porter Building in downtown Watsonville. In a deal some two years in the making, PV Arts will pay the city $1.15 million...

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a plan to move the county’s public defender services from a private law firm to one run by the County. The plan has garnered support from the current public defenders, as well as...